Welcome to My World
by ShieldMaid4JC
Summary: A story about what happens when the next crazy rolls in. Ch.22 is up!
1. Chapter 1

I.

Time changes everything, and this certainly holds true for life in Santa Barbara over the past seven years. In that time over seventy high profile cases had been solved practically singlehandedly by a band of two best friends who formed their own private detective agency : the region's own resident psychic-(but not really), Shawn Spencer, and the brains behind the operation, Burton "Gus" Guster.

Shawn himself had also met and finally wooed the girl of his dreams, Detective Juliet O'Hara. They had been dating for two years when his entire life was nearly flipped on its side. Out of guilt he had let it slip that he was a fraud. After engaging in a rather heated argument, he was certain their relationship was over so he was surprised when she showed up at his door mere days after his final court proceedings which had ended in his being sentenced to four years of community service, a let off for the many cases he had solved.

Noting the troubled look on her face he let her into his abode at the "Mee Mee's Fluff and Fold." At first neither of them spoke as he led her to the couch. It was as if they both afraid of being the first one to open up. In the past, Shawn would have taken an uncomfortable moment like this one and defused it with his completely random, untrue trivia, but today, and probably for the first time in seven years he was silent. Juliet on the other hand, decided that she had enough of the silence and opened her mouth to speak.

"So, I guess you're probably wondering why I'm here," she asked awkwardly. He did not respond, but continued staring at her with a look that would rival a hurt puppy.

"Shawn, I was wrong. I thought I was mad enough to never speak to or see you again…"

Shawn's previously glued lips chose to open at that moment, cutting her off.

"No you weren't. Anyone in your situation would've done the same thing. I shouldn't have lied to you. I shouldn't have…" this time, it was Shawn who was cut off by Juliet.

"You never did let me finish my sentences," she stated while suppressing a chuckle, cracking a smile for the first time since she sat down. It only managed to grow when she saw him smile back at her before his smile vanished behind a look of utter indifference..

"I was wrong. I was wrong to sell you out," she said in an almost whisper, her statement bringing up the dark day when he finally told her the truth only to have her throw it right back in his face by getting him arrested.

"To tell you the truth, I should have been relieved. I wasn't dating a hooky psychic; I was dating someone whose observation skills were so sharpened that he was able to fool the entire police department into believing he was a psychic. How many people can say that? But that's not the point. The point is that it wasn't as important as I thought it was. I can get over the fact that you've been bold-faced lying to me about one aspect of your life for seven years, because I've realized the consequences of not forgiving you far out-weigh the consequences letting it go."

For a minute he continued to stare at her blankly, and then he cracked another one of his signature, Shawn Spencer smiles before answering her back.

"But how can you forgive me for something that I never properly apologized for, I mean that's just a little backwards don't you think?"

She only had about two seconds to smile back at him before he grabbed her face and pulled her into a short, sweet kiss. Though neither of them tended to believe what they had read in books about something as simple as a kiss bonding two previously fractured people together permanently like two pieces of the same puzzle they certainly believed it now. It was as if the past few months did not even matter, they were together again and it was going to stay that way. Even though they would have been perfectly happy to stay that way forever, a ring of the doorbell caused them to have to break apart. Not surprisingly, it was Gus who interrupted their interlude.

Now, Gus had also fallen victim to the fall out that came along with Shawn being revealed. Luckily, he had received an even more lenient sentence of one year's community service. However, he was still the one who was left to clean up the emotional disaster that Juliet had left in her wake. He had been there when Shawn had nearly destroyed his entire apartment out of anger and frustration with the situation. He had also been the only one to have the boldness to try and convince him to completely forget Juliet. So he was more than a little shocked to see her there at that very moment.


	2. Chapter 2

II.

A/N- I do not own any of these characters or any part of Psych.

P.S- I know the characters are a little, okay a lot OOC, but bear with me. On to the story-

"Hello, Juliet," he said finally, his voice void of virtually any emotion other than coldness. After his mere acknowledgment of her presence, he turned immediately to Shawn.

"Shawn, you're never going to believe who just called me…"

"What are you waiting for me to guess?"

"It was the Chief, Shawn. She wants us back on the force, as Private Consultants. She also wants you to come in tomorrow so she can go over the new protocol and specifics of the job."

Shawn looked at his friend in utter confusion shifting his gaze back and forth from him to Juliet.

"Did you know about this," Shawn finally asked Juliet, who smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, Shawn I knew. Apparently, your observational skills were too valuable an asset to the department, and your track record was too impressive to quit hiring you just because you're not a psychic."

"So what's the catch," Shawn asked, addressing Gus once again.

"What'd you mean?"

"The catch, there's got to be a catch."

"She would _like _us to take another crash course at the Academy, but I really wouldn't consider that a catch."

"No, I guess not. Well, I don't mean to cut this party short, but Jules and I have to go. Got a lot to catch up on," he stated happily as he grabbed her hand.

He was about to lead her out the door when Gus stopped them abruptly.

"What are you doing," he asked, staring at Juliet incredulously.

"I think we're probably going to go for some pie, but you know whatever."

"So you're just going to go out like old times and pretend like nothing happened?"

"Gus, don't be a vat of spoiled milk, it's in the past."

"Alright Shawn, if you're sure."

"I'm sure," he countered flatly.

Shawn did not look back as he led Juliet to his brand -new used Impala.

They spent the whole ride to the local Diner in silence. The traffic did not help. In fact, it only served to make an already awkward situation even more awkward. However, once they actually sat down and had ordered their respective pieces of pie, the conversation continued right where it had left off.

"Is Gus really still that mad at me," Juliet started, truly concerned.

"No it's not so much about what you did as it is about what I did because of it. I didn't want to say anything, but to be perfectly honest it wasn't pretty. I was one short step away from being put on meds for depression. Gus is just worried that having you back in my life is going to cause more problems."

"Really it was that bad?"

"It was, but like I told Gus, it's in the past and I'm not going to let it dictate the rest of my life."

"I had no idea, but I guess at the time I didn't really care to know."

"Yeah… so enough about me, what have you been up to lately," Shawn asked, obviously itching to change the subject.

Juliet knew that he was skirting past a tough topic like he always did, but she decided to let it slide this time in the interest of not making things more uncomfortable than they already were.

"Nothing, really. But I've had Lassiter worried that he's going to be out of a job soon with the kind of workaholic I've become."

"Never thought I'd live to see you do that," Shawn quipped, smiling once again.

The two carried on into the night, departing only when they were shooed out by the management. No less than twenty minutes later they were back at Mee Mee's Fluff and Fold, separating once again, this time with the promise of seeing each other the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

Night came and went quicker than Shawn had expected or would have wanted. So it was that he found himself, before he felt like he had even fully woken up standing at the entrance to a place he had not seen the inside of for almost a year: The Santa Barbara Police Department. Nothing had changed; nothing was out of place, a stark contrast to many of the people working there.

Counting the steps as he went in a feeble attempt to keep his mind occupied he made his way to his destination: the Chief's office. He did not burst into her office impatiently when he noticed she was on the phone like he would have done the year before, but rather sat down on the waiting metal chair outside her office. While he waited he contemplated exactly how this might turn out. Knowing the Chief, it was likely that it was going to turn into a slightly bi-polar-like rant which would end in his being re-hired all over again.

A few tense minutes later, she silently stepped out of her office, and motioned him inside. Once they had both sat down, she handed him the manila folder that she had had tucked under her arm. Enclosed were the details of his reinstatement, and a rather curious mention of a not too hefty raise in pay.

"I'm not going to mince words with you Mr. Spencer, I know this is awkward. But for the sake of efficiency, shall we forget the past in favor of the present?"

Shawn nodded vigorously, agreeing only because the situation in the room had brought back that now all too familiar uncomfortable feeling.

"Well, with that being said, being a private consultant is not that much different from what you were already doing. In fact, it may just be a little less uncomfortable for all involved. As of this moment it's just a trial, and make no mistake, if I get the slightest idea that it's not working out, I'll pull the plug on you so fast you won't have time to write your name on your will."

"Understood," Shawn replied, faster than he possibly could have had he actually thought about what the Chief had said, pursing his lips in his usual Shawn-like manner.

"You will be held to the same standards as any other detective in this precinct."

"I think I am up for the challenge."

"Yes, well, here is a copy of your new case file, we will be meeting again tomorrow at noon to discuss it," the Chief stated bluntly before shoeing him out the door with a simple wave of her hand.

When he walked out of her office, his business-like façade fell and his face contorted into a confused stare. He was already used to the Chief being so curt with him, but she had simply danced over the past year like it was nothing, like nothing had ever happened. Normally, he would have pondered this thought longer, but he had more important things to attend to. Things such as the pretty blonde sitting behind the same desk she had occupied for the past seven years, completely oblivious to his presence. He did not say a word for the two seconds that it took for her to notice him, only opening his mouth when she looked up at him from her stack of paper work, staring at him with a look of utter shock on her face.

"Shawn? What are you doing here?"

"Did you forget? I had a meeting with the Chief today."

"Oh! How'd it go?"

"Why don't we talk about it over lunch," Shawn asked, smiling mischievously.

"Shawn, don't you know what that's going to look like? What that's risking? Besides, what am I going to tell Carlton?"

"Tell him that we are discussing the case that the Chief just brought me in on."

Juliet smiled before grabbing her coat and following him out the door, or rather she would have followed had the shrill voice of her partner not stopped her right where she stood.

"O'Hara, where are you going," he asked accusingly, staring at Shawn with a look of disgust.

"Well, Carlton, We have new case I need to bring Shawn up to speed on, we're going back to the Psych office," she told him, the lie rolling almost too easily off her tongue.

"Carry on then," Carlton finished, his eyes never once leaving the once pseudo-psychic's as he sat back down at his desk.

Shawn stared after him a second longer before he led Juliet outside to his waiting car.

"So, what are you in the mood for," Shawn asked finally as they waited at their first stop light.

"I don't know really, surprise me."

"Alright then, but just remember, you asked for it."


	4. Chapter 4

IV.

Not but ten minutes later they had pulled into Juliet's favorite pizzeria, Little Italy. When he opened her door for her he found her staring at him in shock. She had not expected to remember her favorite restaurant.

"Surprise," he quipped, once again sporting his signature grin as he grabbed her hand and led her inside the restaurant.

"Table for two, Spencer," the host asked with a glint in his eye.

Shawn nodded still smiling as they were led to their table, which conveniently was located in a secluded corner of the restaurant.

"Wow, Shawn. I don't know what to say. You planned all this already?"

"Well, I've had it on the backburner for a while; the only thing I needed to do was wait for you to show up again."

"So, how'd you even know that I'd come with you?"

"I didn't, I just took a step of faith."

The meal was wonderful, full of innocent chatter and Juliet's favorite Italian dish, manicotti. After their dessert, which happened to be another one of Juliet's favorites, tiramisu she got up figuring that she had spent enough time away from the office, but before she could make her hasty exit, Shawn grabbed her arm lightly to stop her.

"Jules wait," he asked, sounding all of twelve years old. "Let's go to the beach."

She stared at him incredulously, ready to walk away when she noticed the pleading look in his eyes. Sighing in defeat, she followed him back out to his car. Another ten minutes later, they were sitting on a bench overlooking the emptiest area of the beach. Minus the fisherman's rigs chugging away in the distance, it was also the most incredible sight the Santa Barbara Beach had to offer. In fact, it was almost too perfect. Even the seagulls were not their normal predatory selves. She was so caught up in her own thoughts she barely noticed Shawn dropping to one knee, holding a little black box which itself held the most dazzling, and yet simple diamond ring she had ever seen.

"Shawn, what are you doing," Juliet asked once she found her voice. "Get up."

"Alright, then, I can do this sitting down too, I guess. I would have done this sooner. I planned on doing it after I told you my little secret, but you know. Jules, I have to be honest with you. Watching you walk out of my life, it was probably the worst thing I have ever experienced. Seeing you again, it's just made me realize that I never want to go through that again. I- I love you, and that's not about to change. So, Juliet O'Hara, will you marry me?"

"Shawn, I don't know what to say," Juliet finally answered him, caught completely off guard.

"Yes, would be the operative word."

"Shawn I love you too, and I know that I'm ready for this. Trust me; all I want is to be able to settle down with you. It's just, I'm not sure that I ready for what this means. If we get married there's no way I'm going to be able to stay at the SBPD, and to be honest with you I don't know where to go from there."

"Well, it wouldn't have to be that way; we could keep it a secret for now, until you figure out what you're doing. We could be a like a regular Anakin and Padme."

She thought about it for a second, only to find her logical mind completely suspended as she really took in the scene before her: the man she loved, sitting next to her asking in his most romantic way possible for her to marry him. Logically, she would have understood that there would be repercussions, but she could not think of them, and even if she could she would have also known that logically there was no way her heart was even going to let her say no.

"Yeah, but look what happened to them. I mean, we might need to pull back and think about this a little longer," she quipped at last, smiling like a giddy school girl, when he pulled her in for a heart-melting kiss which only ended when he put the ring on her finger.

"One problem though," Juliet told him once she could catch her breath.

"What's that?"

"I think people are going to notice if I leave for a lunch break and come back with a ring."

"Ah, that's why I got this," he said, handing her another box.

Inside was a simple gold chain.

"For now, I hate to say it, but I think the safest move would be to just put it back in the box and keep the box in your purse. This is for later, when it will be a little less conspicuous, and in case you are wondering, I have actually thought of a cover story for why you're going to be wearing an engagement ring around your neck."

"Oh?"

"It was your grandmother's ring. Your parents gave it to you for safe keeping."

"That could work."


	5. Chapter 5

Once again, she got up, knowing that she had to get back to the office so as to not to risk arousing any suspicion whatsoever. Shawn himself followed behind her half-ignoring the congratulations being offered by the few random bystanders who happened to have seen the whole thing. Ten minutes later they were back at the station, promising to call each other that night to actually discuss the details of the case.

As for Shawn, he went straight back to the Psych office, the office which they had kept all this time despite its uselessness in the past year for reasons of sentimentality, and storage. When he walked in the door he noticed two things: One, that it was so quiet he could hear the beating of his own heart and two, Gus was there sitting at his desk with a look so icy it could have frozen Mt. St. Helens in a matter of milliseconds.

"Shawn, where have you been? The Chief told me to touch base with you an hour ago."

"I've been around."

"Oh no, Shawn. You were with Juliet."

"And if I was? Gus, it was a year ago. She was in shock. Come on, let it go. Besides, bitterness looks pretty ugly on you anyway."

"I don't get you Shawn. Seriously tell me, how can you just pretend like everything's fine now?"

"Because it is Gus! I'm over it and you should be to."

Gus knew from years of experience as Shawn's best friend that it was pointless to argue past this point, so he decided to do the wise thing and change the subject.

"So anyway, the case the Chief just brought us in on, the one you haven't even bothered to open the case file for, is a murder investigation. A man named David Rankin was shot in front of his house this morning when he went out to get the mail. The initial assessments point to a drive-by, but the Chief doesn't want to leave any stone unturned."

"Alright. Let's start with the witnesses. Who do we got?"

"His wife and daughter saw the whole thing on their way home from school."

"Well, what are we waiting for let's go talk to them," Shawn said, as he grabbed Gus's keys from the key holder.

"Why are we taking my car Shawn," Gus whined as they both sat in their respective seats.

"Because you get better mileage than me," Shawn blurted as if he was stating the most obvious fact in the world.

"And whose fault is that? I told you to get the Focus, but you didn't listen. If you would have listened to me, you would have had at least five more miles…" Gus' rant was thankfully cut off by Shawn mid-sentence.

"Gus I can't do this with you right now. I need to focus. I have too many things vying for my attention as it is, and this isn't helping."

"Sorry," Gus muttered, obviously still frustrated.


	6. Chapter 6

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at a quaint, bright yellow house which looked like it had been taken straight off the set of _The Truman Show, _and dropped right in the middle of the otherwise normal neighborhood. After taking a moment to stare at it like they would a jackal with two heads, the pair made for the front door. Two sharp raps on the door later, they were face to face with their first witness. She was an older woman, probably no younger than forty-five years old based on the just developing wrinkles and age spots making an appearance around her eyes andon her hands.

"Hello, Mrs. Rankin. I am Shawn Spencer, head private consultant for the SBPD. This is my partner, Igor Brovinsky."

"Yes, the police told me you'd be coming. Please, come inside," she said, motioning to the lone sea-foam green couch in the living room.

Shawn and Gus both sat down hesitantly, nervous as to how this was actually going to play out. Mrs. Rankin, on the other hand went immediately to the kitchen, in an attempt to drum something up for her expected, yet somehow surprise guests.

"Tea," she asked, not even looking up from her spot by the fridge.

"Yes, please," Shawn answered, only to be elbowed in the ribs by an irate and anxious Gus.

Once she finally sat down after handing them both a glass of what might have just been the best iced tea they had ever tasted in their lives, the real questioning began.

"So, Mrs. Rankin, I have to begin with the obvious question: Did your husband have any enemies?"

"No, of course not. I can't think of anyone who would want to hurt him. None of his co-workers at the car plant were his biggest fans, but none of them wanted him dead."

"Okay, well have you noticed anything strange lately? Try to think back on even the obscure details. They may be more important than you think."

"I can't think of anything. Everything seemed normal before it happened," Mrs. Rankin paused, and looked up as though a light bulb had gone off. "Actually, there was one thing. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that our cell phone bill was much higher than it should have been. There were a lot of extra charges, and most of them were for data transfers. I tried to ask him about it, but he told me that he accidently accessed the internet a few times."

"And you believed him," Shawn asked gently.

"Well, yes. He had rheumatoid arthritis, and sometimes the cramping in his hands caused things to happen that was out of his control."

"Was it ever that consistent," Shawn questioned, once again earning an elbow to the ribs from Gus.

"I didn't think it was."

"So you mentioned he had trouble at work. Did he ever name any names?"

"Only once, his supervisor, Mark Duffy. The man had a bad habit of passing the blame for his mistakes on to his employees, and David usually took the brunt of it."

"You wouldn't happen to know the address would you?"

"Not by heart, but he left a business card."

Mrs. Rankin got up briefly and went over to the pull-over desk in the corner, picking out a palm-sized card, and handed it to the new private consultant.

"Okay. Well, Mrs. Rankin thanks for the tea. We'll be in touch," Shawn said, practically making a break for Gus's car.

"Shawn what are you doing," Gus asked from his place at the driver's seat.

"We need to talk to that supervisor. Rule number two of violent crimes: always suspect the boss."

They made it to the car plant in record time. In fact it almost took longer to find a parking space in the packed, security ridden lot. After ten more minutes of maneuvering and parking they made their way toward the factory. The pair made it as far as the inside gate, before being stopped by security. The guard was a gruff man who looked as if he was not going to have one issue beating them all the way back to the Blueberry, which is what he would have done had Shawn not flashed the false police ID he had made for himself a few years back. Upon seeing it, the man simply nodded his head and waved them through.

"I don't know about you Shawn, but after that I don't know who I should be more concerned for, them or us."

"What'd you mean?"

"You're kidding me right? That was way too easy, and what's worse, you got through using a fake ID."

"Exactly, that just proves my theory that we are looking in the right place."

As soon as he finished that sentence, they had made it to the front desk.

"Excuse me," Shawn asked, pouring on the charm.

"Yes, can I help you," the receptionist returned, smacking her gum in obvious disinterest.

"I'm looking for a Mark Duffy's office," Shawn said, once again flashing his fake ID.

"Down the hall and to the left. Just follow the signs," she told him, sounding even more agitated.

Not even having the time to be taken aback by her cold attitude Shawn motioned for Gus, and went down the direction she told him to go. When they reached his office, they noticed that he must have been higher up on the chain of command than they thought previously. After all, it was not common practice for a simple supervisor to get a corner office overlooking the entire plant. For a brief and perhaps the worst moment in time, Shawn momentarily reverted back to his old ways, and burst right through the executive's door like it was nothing.


	7. Chapter 7

Mr. Duffy was obviously not expecting company, as he was currently engaged in what could have only been some very shady dealings judging from the stacks of hundred dollar bills laid out on the table, the bookie sitting across from him and the gun tucked neatly under a cloth in his hand. Despite the cold fear now creeping through his entire body, Shawn continued toward the men.

Gus, being the more conservative of the two only burst in himself when an all too familiar cry of pain followed the sound of gunfire echoed from behind the door. Unfortunately, what he found was almost exactly what he expected. The bookie lay on the ground, in a rather large pool of blood. Mr. Duffy, on the other hand was standing over Shawn's prone form, a literally smoking gun still held with an iron grip in his hand. Without a thought about his own safety or his squeamish insides, Gus rushed over to his friend. Taking advantage of the situation, the perp merely walked outside the room, getting lost in the sea of human traffic now herding toward his office.

Gus turned him over he saw the gunshot wound right away. From the looks of it, it was a good, clean hit. The only problem was the fact that it was a clean hit through his upper chest. He could also tell that for the moment, he was still breathing and lucid, although in great pain. Without wasting any more time, he pulled out his cell phone and called an ambulance.

After that brief call, he searched the room for something to staunch the blood-flow with. Finding nothing, he tore off his own jacket and pressed it to the wound. At the mere contact, Shawn let out a very un-Shawn-like whimper, which he stifled a minute later, knowing that his friend was only trying to help him. Gus himself was rambling random nothings at Shawn in a horrible attempt at trying to keep him calm and with him.

Suddenly, and before Gus knew what to do with himself, the room was swarmed with people. Soon, he found the situation so well taken care of that he was forced to move on to the more daunting task while he waited for the ambulance to show up. Stepping away from the swarm, cautiously trusting his best friend to the group of strangers, he stepped outside for a moment, got his phone out and dialed Henry's phone number.

When he delivered the news finally, Henry having fished out of him after a rather lousy attempt at softening the blow with a little small talk, Henry curtly told him that he would meet them at the hospital and hung up so fast Gus barely got the chance to say goodbye nor did he even notice that he had not had a chance to tell him which hospital Shawn would be taken to. The next number on the list in his head was the most intimidating. Though he did not want to, he knew he had to call Juliet. For her, he did not even mince words like he had tried to with Henry. He got straight to the point; because he knew that if he tried to pull that with her she would suspect something right off the bat anyway. The phone rang three times, and for one blissful moment, he thought that he was not going to have to face her, but before the answering machine could pick up, her voice came across the line.

"Hey Gus, um how are you," she asked hesitantly, and he knew she was still thinking about the bitterness between the two of them.

"I've been better."

All it took was that simple sentence and Juliet caught on.

"What's wrong? Where's Shawn?"

"Hopefully, he'll be on his way to the hospital soon."

"Gus, what happened?"

"We were following a lead, at the car plant downtown, Mark Duffy, who turned out to be a very dangerous man with an itchy trigger finger."

"I'll be right there," Juliet said urgently, and then the call disconnected.

When Gus turned back toward the room, he was relieved to find that the paramedics were already there strapping Shawn into a stretcher. He took a moment to find out which hospital they would be taking him to, and then raced to the Blueberry, making it out of the lot mere feet behind the ambulance.


	8. Chapter 8

One cautious and long car ride later, Gus found himself sitting alone in the emergency waiting room, desperate to hear whether or not his best friend would live. He did not have to wait alone for long however, as approximately ten minutes after he had finally settled down into one of the metal chairs of the waiting room, a very worried Henry Spencer came rushing through the room's automatic doors. Gus could only flounder helplessly as the elder Spencer tried to garner as much information about the situation as humanly possible.

Luckily, he was saved from any further onslaught when the conversation stalled right where it was as Juliet walked through the same doors and sat quietly next to the two of them. One could tell by the look on her face that she knew the situation was pretty touch and go, and that was enough for her. So instead of pressuring Gus with more questions, she settled for finding out how he was personally and for finding out the pertinent information about their perp so she could hand it off to Lassiter. It was a welcome distraction for the both of them

They were not allowed very much time to hide behind their own, safer thoughts, as moments later, a physician stepped out of the ominous backdoors of the emergency room and toward the unsettled group. The physician, a Doctor Tillmen, according to his ID, was a man who was obviously practiced in the art of appearing completely neutral even in the direst of circumstances, an observation which he proved himself when he began to discuss Shawn's injuries.

"It doesn't look good," he spat out with no preliminaries. "Right now, depending on how the surgery to remove the bullet goes, his chances of survival are about fifty-nine percent, and that's if it's successful. Now normally, I wouldn't even come to see you until after the surgery, but I wanted to give you all an opportunity to say goodbye just in case."

They were all crestfallen at the news, but still no one said a word as the doctor led them behind the double doors of the emergency room, and into the treatment area stopping at Room #5.

"Now make it quick, we've only got about ten minutes before we have to start moving him into the OR."

Wordlessly, Gus and Juliet decided to give father and son a moment alone first, if only to absorb their own thoughts about seeing someone they cared about so much in such a vulnerable position. Surprisingly, the sympathetic crier of the two of them was actually doing a good job at holding himself together. Juliet, on the other hand, was ready to break down. She had managed to keep her feelings at bay from the moment she got the call, but after seeing him so injured like that even though it was only for the brief moment that the curtain was opened to admit Henry, she did not know if she could make it to the safety of the waiting room before her tears escaped.

All too soon, Henry stepped outside the curtain, and Gus was nudging her inside. As if by some divine intervention, she found herself reverting back to her training as a cop, putting on a calm facade for those crucial moments. She strode slightly more assured toward the barely lucid man's bedside, and held his previously dangling hand.

"Jules," he asked, sounding as if he was five minutes away from being fast asleep.

"Hi, Shawn."

"How bad?"

"What?"

"The doctors, they won't tell me anything. How bad is it?"

"It's pretty bad," Juliet answered, deciding it would not do either of them any good for her to lie to him now.

"Oh. Well, you know I don't believe in being morbid, but just in case: Jules, I'm really thankful to have been able to spend the past seven years with you, and I'm sorry for all the rough patches. I love you."

"Well, I would say that I forgive you, but I've already forgiven you, for everything. I love you too."

"One more thing, I hate to ask, but there's no one else I would really trust with this, so would you do me a favor?"

"Of course Shawn, what is it?"

"Take care of Gus and my Dad. Not like literally, just check up on them every once and a while. Make sure they stay out of trouble," he said, with a small chuckle.

"I would, but don't worry, you'll be fine," she said, kissing him lightly on the lips, before turning to leave and allow Gus some time with him.


	9. Chapter 9

Five hours later, the trio was still in the waiting room. Gus and Henry had sat mostly static while Juliet made about four trips to the cafeteria. The first two trips were muffin and coffee runs, but the last two were nothing but an attempt to keep her tense mind occupied. She was in the middle of yet another attempt to avoid the situation at hand when she literally collided into it, in the form of Dr. Tillmen exiting the door leading to the operating room hall.

Gus, who happened to look up just in time to see the Dr. approach Juliet and got up to intercept him with Henry following after him.

"How's Shawn," the all asked simultaneously.

"He's alive, but he's still in serious condition. We only just moved him to recovery. And before you ask, yes you may see him, one at time if you please. He's in room two," he stated emotionlessly, pointing to the ominous back door before departing himself.

Without much more thought they walked in silence toward his room, which at this point was not exactly a room, but more like a cubicle. Just like they did before they began to take turns seeing him, going in the same order. However, Juliet had to miss her turn to see him as right before she was about to go in her cell phone rang, telling her that Lassiter was calling. As much as she wanted to, she knew she could not ignore the call so she went further down the hall and flipped her phone open.

"Carlton, what is it?"

"Forensics just finished processing the scene back at the car plant, and I just got the profile back on the perp. Turns out he's the brother of the drug dealer Spencer busted a few months back. How's he doing by the way," Lassiter asked, clearly forcing himself to be concerned about the man for Juliet's sake.

"I don't really know yet, I haven't seen him since he went in for surgery five hours ago but the doctor says he's still in serious condition."

There was a stark silence on the other end of the line, until Lassiter spoke up.

"Alright, I'll handle our next lead, you stay with him."

"What?"

"I have to go, call me when you know something."

She would have been upset at Lassiter basically throwing her off the case for the time being, but at the moment she was thankful that he was not trying to force her to focus on work in what would have been an impossible situation. Not wanting to interrupt anything, but being too anxious to wait any longer, she entered the cubicle.

"Hey Jules," Shawn said obviously still groggy from the anesthesia.

Henry and Gus walked out of the room almost as soon as she walked in, allowing the couple some privacy.

"How are you feeling," she asked, giving him a light peck on his nearly white lips.

"Like my stomach flipped inside out and spilled on the floor."

"Okay, that's disgusting, but at least you're feeling enough like yourself to joke again. Does it hurt?"

"Not so much anymore. I don't know what they've got me on, but whatever it is, it's excellent."

"You know you need to tell me what you want me to cook for you once you can actually eat again."

"Ah Jules, I don't even want to think about food right now."

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

"Jules are you uncomfortable? 'Cause it's okay if you are."

"I shouldn't be. I see things like this happen every day. But to see it happen to you, it's different, it's scary," Juliet admitted.

"It's okay. Everything's fine. I'm fine. With a little luck, I'll get out of here in a couple of days."

"How do you know?"

"Because, if they don't let me out of here in less than a couple of days, I'll escape."

Juliet could not help but chuckle at this, earning a smile from Shawn. Two minutes of aimless chatter later, a team came to transfer Shawn to the ICU. After numerous reassurances from both Shawn and the physician on point that he was not going to die within the next ten minutes Juliet got the room number, and then decided that she should take a minute for another coffee and to update Gus and Henry.


	10. Chapter 10

The day seemed to drag on forever for Juliet, but all too soon she was being shooed out the door of Shawn's new room with strict orders to go home and rest. It was just as well though, seeing as to the fact that she literally could not afford to miss work the next morning. So it was that with a quiet 'goodbye' to Shawn, Henry, and Gus she left the hospital and began the thirty minute trek home. Once she walked in the door, the full weight of the exhaustion that she had been hampering all day through several doses of coffee crashed down on her. She did not even have the energy to make it to her bedroom, so she settled for collapsing on the couch in the living room, mere feet from the front door.

That morning, she got up at the bleak hour of five. After getting dressed practically on auto-pilot she drove down to the station forgetting the previous day almost completely. That is, until she actually arrived at work. Right when she walked in the door, she noticed Mark Duffy's profile, enlarged on the newly purchased plasma screen. After seeing that she was not doing a very good job at all at hiding her purely personal disdain for the man, she did the safer thing and hid herself down in the evidence locker where she remained for the better part of the day. When she made it back up to the squad room even several hours later, she had to ignore the still remaining photo as she sat down at her desk and began fumbling with some older case files, which she had grabbed from the lockup. Lassiter would not allow it.

"O'Hara, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay with Spencer."

"Yeah, well, I decided I needed to go back to work," she answered him shortly, despite trying to keep as guarded as possible.

"What do you mean?"

"Visiting hours was up, I was exhausted, and so I decided to go back to work."

"I didn't ask you to stay with him for moral support, I asked you to stay with him, because a dangerous crime family obviously set a trap for him, and he should have police personnel on guard, just in case. And I asked you, because I figured it would be better for him to have someone he knew with him rather than some random officer."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because, I had to follow a lead."

"I've got to go," Juliet said, grabbing her keys. She was in the middle of collecting the rest of the case file when Lassiter, who was on the phone, waved her over to his desk.

"What is it Carlton? I really need to go."

"O'Hara that was Spencer. Shawn just crashed."

"What do you mean 'he crashed'?"

"I'm mean Code Blue crashed."

"What?"

"He said they were still trying to bring him back. It was the perp's younger brother, Juliet. He left a note. The guy couldn't be any more textbook. He said that Spencer is a danger to criminals everywhere so now they, meaning the family are going to prove themselves by being the first ones to kill him. How does that even make sense, I mean how is he a good target?"

Juliet did not even hear the last part of his sentence as she was already out the door. After half an hour of dodging her way in and out of traffic, trying desperately not to get killed for lack of focus on the road, she made it to the hospital. Once inside the hospital's sliding glass doors, she flashed her badge all the way up to the ICU, not stopping her up-tempo stride until she saw Gus at the end of the hallway.

"Gus! What happened?"

"Juliet? What are you doing here?"

"Henry called Lassiter. I was with him. Long story, but Shawn is my responsibility. So what happened?"

"I don't know. I went for another coffee run, next thing I knew alarms were beeping like crazy, and this guy was running out of the room. I didn't even get a good look at him," he finished guiltily.

"It's okay Gus. Where is Shawn now?"

"They're still working on him in a treatment room," Gus said, pointing directly behind Juliet's head.

"And no one has told you anything yet," she asked.

"No, they haven't had the time."

"Where's Henry?"

"Last I saw him he was on his way down to the cafeteria."

At this Juliet sighed, and slumped down the wall next to Gus, where she remained for a good amount of time.


	11. Chapter 11

"I hate this. Waiting around," she finally spoke up when the silence was so constricting she felt like she was breathing through a straw.

"I don't know. I actually like the waiting."

"What are you talking about? This is horrible, anything could be happening in there!"

"Maybe, but whatever it is, it's not the worst that could happen, if it was then we wouldn't be waiting anymore."

"You're right, you're right. I need to just, think positive."

The sentence had barely left her lips when she saw Henry come towards them with a tray of coffee.

"Anything," he asked, when he finally reached them.

"Nothing," Gus said simply, taking the coffee from his outstretched hand after Juliet declined it.

"When are they going to tell us something? They've been in there for almost an hour; you would think that they would know something by now!"

"They'll tell us something when they know something," Juliet said calmly, finally managing to too hide how worried she was about the man's son.

Henry simply nodded, knowing not to say anymore. So the trio sat in silence, a tense silence that was only broken when Dr. Tillmen stepped out of the treatment room. They sat in anticipation for another minute longer, but the Dr. flashed the group a disarming smile.

"He's going be okay. We got him back."

The group breathed a collective sigh of relief. The doctor, on the other hand, pursed his lips and continued.

"He still has a long road ahead of him, but we are now confident that this little incident should not hamper his chances at a full recovery."

"What happened?"

"Well, it appears someone decided to try and strangle him."

"How could a whack job get so close to strangling my son to death and no one notice!"

"Henry," Gus and Juliet uttered warningly.

"As I was saying, the damage to his larynx has inhibited his breathing so we had to put him on oxygen. Luckily, the damage was minor. However for now, we still need to keep an eye on him. Only time will tell which way this situation will go. Anyway, I figure you all would like to see him, so go ahead, all three of you, I won't tell anyone," he said with a twinkle in his eye that was just as disarming as his smile.

Not even waiting for another nudge in the room from the doctor, who had long since vacated the hallway the trio, once again, stepped into Shawn's room. Three plastic chairs were already waiting for them when they went in courtesy of the nurse on call, so they sat down around the completely out of it man's bedside. Everything was dead silent. It was so quiet in fact, that they could hear the rustle of the trees outside echoing from the window down the hall. Out of the cold, wordless blue, Shawn took in a sharp breath of air, making everyone in the room nearly jump right out of their seats.

"Hey guys, what did I miss?"

"Shawn!"

"Sorry, just always wanted to say that."

"How you feeling," his Dad asked.

"Guys, how many times do I have to say it before you actually believe me? I'm fine."

"Well, if you would stay out of trouble, then we wouldn't worry so much," Henry burst out suddenly.

"Henry, maybe it's time to go home. The staff is probably going to kick you out soon enough and you're going to need your sleep," Juliet said quietly.

Henry nodded, throwing a half-scowl her way, before leaving in a huff.

"Don't worry about him, Shawn. He's just concerned."

"I know Jules. You know you guys don't need to keep vigil over me. Like I said, I'm fine. Besides, don't you both have jobs to do?"

"Shawn, you are my job right now," Juliet said.

"Come on, Jules. You know I love it when you get all girly girl on me, but The Chief can't be happy that you're not out there having Lassie's back while he's chasing Mr. Duffy part two."

"Shawn, I'm serious. I'm not just here because I want to be, I am on protection detail."

"Protecting me? Really? Why?"

"Because Shawn, that man that you decided to confront without telling anyone without any back-up, is a dangerous crime boss, and the fact that he didn't kill you out right proves that he's not finished with you."

"Aw Jules, not you too," Shawn said with fake disappointment.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"What about you Gus? What does your boss think about all this?"

"He's not happy with me Shawn, but that doesn't matter. You're my boy, and I'm not going anywhere."

"Gus really, Go home. It's okay. If anything happens, Jules will be here."

Gus hesitated for a second, and then rose from his chair nodding to Juliet.

"Call me," Gus asked her.

"I will," she said, watching him go until he was down the hall.


	12. Chapter 12

"What am I going to do with you," she asked, turning back to Shawn once Gus disappeared.

"I don't know Jules, I don't know."

"Alright, no more chit-chat you need to get some sleep."

"Okay, Mom. I guess it won't hurt me to go to bed early."

"You're a child."

"But you love me anyway right?"

"Of course I do Shawn. Now, go to bed."

"Yes, M'am," he practically whispered.

After several minutes of listening to the sound of tossing and turning, soft snoring let her know that he was asleep. She tried to go to sleep herself, but it was not happening. Of course, it may have had something to do with the fact that her only choice of a bed was the plastic chair she had been sitting in all day. That, and the fact that she felt like she could be in the most comfortable bed possible and she still would not be able to sleep for fear that Mr. Duffy would come back.

It was hard enough for her to know that Shawn had been hurt by a monster while she had been at the station. She probably would turn in her badge in the morning if he got hurt while she was in the same room with him. Once one o'clock rolled around however, she seemed to forget that fact as she succumbed to the tiredness lurking behind her eyelids and nodded off right where she was sitting.

Her sleep was not fitful like she expected. On the contrary, she slept like a rock. In fact, she awoke feeling so refreshed that she barely noticed that she had only slept for two hours. She was about to curse her body's timing, when she noticed something a little off in the room. Then she saw him.

His face may have been shrouded in the darkness, but Juliet knew who he was all the same. Fighting against the panic threatening to overwhelm her common sense, Juliet reached into her purse for her service weapon. What she found was nothing but torn bits of fabric, her wallet, and a few empty gum wrappers. When she looked up, the perp was staring her straight in the eye from behind a black mask, cocking her own gun in her direction. He was a mere second from firing at her at point blank range when he fell flat on the floor, knocked to the ground by a renegade IV pole.

While he lay there stunned for a few minutes, Juliet made a grab for the gun. She had it in her hand when the perp grabbed her by the foot and knocked her feet out from under her. In turn, she slammed her boot covered foot into his head, which he responded to by rolling over her legs. His fingertips landed on the gun for a brief second, before Juliet's fist collided with the back of his shoulder. She leapt up, and tried to wrap his arms behind his back, but one of his meaty limbs slipped from her grasp securing the gun in the process so that once again, she was at the end of the barrel of her own gun.

"Wait, wait, stop! You don't want to do this," Shawn yelled from his place in bed.

"Really? And why not?"

"Think about it dude. You're in the middle of a hospital. If security doesn't know you're here already, they definitely will if you fire that gun, and she's a cop. If you kill her, you're looking at life if you're lucky or the death penalty if you're not. There's no way out of this for you."

"Really?"

"Really," Juliet said, holding the knife she had hidden in her boot up to his neck.

For a minute, the perp did not react, and seemed as though he may still follow through with his plan. He made a move to fire the gun; only to have Juliet pressed the knife to his throat, drawing blood before the gun finally clattered unceremoniously to the floor. Once she made sure he was clear, Juliet grabbed the back-up handcuffs still in her pocket from that morning and cuffed him.

"Jules, that was so hot," Shawn told her from where he lay in bed.

Ignoring his comment, she looked up at him.

"Are you okay," she asked looking slightly peeved at him.

"I'm fine, but shouldn't you be calling Lassie? You know he's probably still back at the station doing paperwork."

"Already dialing Shawn," she said, having pulled her cell phone from its holster on her belt.


	13. Chapter 13

"Lassiter," she yelled into the phone once he finally answered. "Yes, I know it's late. Duffy's brother showed up at the hospital. Well, I got him cuffed, but I need you to come take him to the station for me. No, he's fine, I just, I don't…okay, bye."

"Lassie coming?"

"Yeah, he'll be here in twenty minutes. As for you," she said turning back to the perp. "You are going back to the station, where you are going to spill every last detail of what you're caught up in, or I swear, I'll kill you myself."

"No you won't, not unless you want him to die too. You see, my family and I, we're a real family. When one of us is hurt or gets messed with, it affects us all. Sending my brother to jail, that was one thing, and that's the whole reason he's got a target on his back right now. If you kill me, trust me when I say, it is only going to make matters worse."

"I'll take my chances."

"Really, you'd risk his life like that, just to catch a criminal? I have to tell you, you say you love him, but he's not even more important to you than your job."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on. You think I don't research the people that I'm going to interact with on an op? I saw you at the beach. If it wasn't for this little stunt, you'd both be out venue searching."

"Shut up. What did you hope to accomplish anyway? Restitution for a few years of jail?"

"I didn't _hope _to accomplish anything. I am accomplishing something."

"And what's that, besides being the fastest arrest in my career?"

"Wait for it," he said dragging out the last word the way that Shawn always did

"Wait for what," Shawn finally said after three straight minutes of listening to the perp slaughter his favorite catch-phrase.

"What? It can't be. You're supposed to be dead!"

"And yet, clearly I am not."

"Wait a minute, what are you talking about," Juliet asked.

"While you were busy catching some z's, I poisoned your dear pseudo-psychic."

Contrasting her still calm expression, the worry inside Juliet was quickly turning to panic. She could not help but feel caught between the murderer and the soon-to-be murder victim. For the first time in seven years, she honestly did not know what to do with herself. It was the oddest, most unsettling thing and it could not have come at a worse time. She did not have to wrestle with her thoughts for much longer, as a loud ruckus informed her of Lassiter's presence in the ICU.

"Lassiter, over here," she called, stopping herself from screaming it clear across the room.

"O'Hara, what's…" the words halted, dead almost as soon as they left his mouth.

"A little help here," she asked him, yanking her perp up to meet him.

"I got him, O'Hara. How's Spencer," he asked, looking over the perp's shoulder.

"Oh my God, Shawn!"

"Jules, relax, I'm fine. You see? There I go again. Come on, I honestly have no idea what that guy was talking about."

"It's your call Lassiter, what do you want to do?"

"I'm going to take Duffy back to the station."

She nodded, watching in relief as Lassiter dragged the perp out of the room going against the flow of the doctors who had finally made it into the room after Juliet pressed the alarm.

"What's going on in here," Juliet recognized the voice of Dr. Tillmen coming from behind her head.

"It's about time. Listen, I'm going to need you to run a tox screen on him. He's been poisoned."

"How do you know that?"

"Because the man who did it told me!"

"Calm down miss."

"I am calm. I'm sorry, I'm calm," she answered, breathing out a nice long breath. "Can you please, just do this for me?"

Dr. Tillmen himself breathed his own sigh of resignation.

"Alright, we'll be back in ten minutes," he said, waving the rest of the nurses out of the room.

"Whoa, Jules, easy there. You don't need to get yourself all worked up for nothing."

"It's not nothing, though, Shawn. Someone seriously has it out for you. We need to find out who's really behind all this before…," she trailed off, letting the sentence just hang in the air.

"Before what Jules? You think I'm going to let this guy get to me?"

"Not by choice, but you may not have a choice."

"I'll be fine."

"You'd better. Otherwise, I'll be out of a job," she half-joked, putting on her calm face again.

"Well, I wouldn't want that," Shawn said, smiling.

Ten minutes later, Dr. Tillmen was back with his team, whisking Shawn away to the laboratory downstairs, and not even giving Juliet the option of following. So she reluctantly settled for waiting, and it went against ever fiber in her being. There were only two things she wanted to do at that moment: she wanted to be with Shawn when he found out just how much danger his life might be in, and she wanted to talk to Lassiter, though she knew that it would do her no good as he had probably not even gotten back to the station yet.


	14. Chapter 14

Another agonizing two hours later, a wordless Shawn was returned to his cubicle.

"So," Juliet said after a long minute of silence. "How'd it go?"

'They won't tell me," Shawn whispered, sounding exhausted.

"Oh."

"They don't need to say anything though. I'm sure it's nothing."

He nodded off a few seconds later, leaving Juliet, who made a mental note to ask the doctor about the results of the tox. screen the next time he came around, alone. She was more than anxious to find out what the results were, because she was beginning to feel like they could change everything. Of course, anything that made her go from thinking about spending the next fifty years with him to praying he had another day left was bound to change everything.

Minutes passed, and still nothing. Much to her annoyance, the silence only kept her on the same thought trail longer. She was so lost in her own thoughts in fact she did not hear her work phone ringing until the third ring. Putting on her work persona, she answered.

"O'Hara," Lassiter's gruff voice sounded from the other line.

"Yes Carlton, what is it?"

"We've found the snake pit."

"What'd you mean?"

"The drug bust was only the tip of the iceberg. This family is worse than the mafia. At least twenty of them all have been linked to murders and robberies all around Santa Barbara. What's worse, they're like ants. If one of them gets squashed ten more pop up. In fact over the years, we've arrested about half of them."

"How long have they been in business?"

"Thirty years."

"Unbelievable."

"You're telling me. That explains why they're so desperate to keep Spencer quiet. He could ruin everything for them. The problem is even if we push ourselves to our furthest limits of man power, there are so many criminals to apprehend that Spencer could be dead long before we get them all. Even then, we may not be able to nab them if he doesn't spill whatever information it is that he may be holding, and he may not even be aware that he's holding it."

"So we need to talk to him as soon as possible."

"And that's why you're there. Stay on it. I've got to go."

"But Carlton…" she tried, but dial tone was her only answer, so she hung up.

She would have been peeved, had Dr. Tillmen not entered Shawn's cubicle at that exact moment.

"Ah, Detective O'Hara."

"Wait, how did you…" she trailed off when he held up a hand.

"Your name is in his file as the officer on guard."

"Oh, right. So what can you tell me doctor?"

"I can tell you that I do have good news. We were able to find no trace of poison in his system. All signs point to him being just fine. Guess your guy was bluffing," he said smiling, reassuringly.

"Oh, thank God. Pardon me for asking, but do you have an idea when he might be able to get out of here?"

"Well, it all depends. If everything goes well, he should be out in no more than a week."

"Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome," he said, leaving the cubicle.

Ever full of surprises, Shawn proved everyone wrong, and was discharged from the hospital three days later. He had wanted to go back home to Mee Mee's, however, Juliet maintained that he may not be in the hospital anymore ,but she still had a job to do as they had not made any head-way in finding out where the man who had put a target on his back was. For all they knew, he could come back any day. That being so, she insisted that he stay at her house, which was a safe haven whether she was there or not courtesy of the array if weapons stashed around it, and the emergency buttons hidden underneath practically every lamp and piece of furniture.

As per his doctor's orders he was not allowed to take any more cases for the time being, so he had spent the better part of the past two weeks bored out of his mind. Even a day long marathon of _Miami Vice _did little to ease the entertainment rut he had found himself in. So he was glad that Friday when Juliet came back to the house for an extended "vacation", which was really just a continuation of her protection detail.

Just like she had promised, she made him his favorite meal, Hawaiian pizza from scratch which despite Juliet's misgivings about her culinary ability turned out excellently. It was so well done that Juliet figured it warranted another slice, which she rarely went for, though Shawn was in the middle of his third. She was taking a swig of her equally rare Coke, when an earth-shattering noise like a firework landing in her backyard nearly knocked it out of her mouth.

"What was that," Shawn mused aloud once the noise had died down.

"I don't know. Stay here, I'm going to check it out. You remember where the sig is right?"

"Got it," he said, grabbing it from the lamp it was hidden underneath and jumping in front of her.

"Shawn, what are you doing? I'm the cop, you're the civilian; I'll handle this."

"Yeah, and you're my girlfriend. I'll handle this."

For a useless minute they stared at each other in a silent stalemate.

"Same time," Shawn asked her and she nodded, giving him the go ahead he needed.

At the last minute, Shawn jumped, gun drawn in front of Juliet, shielding her from the potential assailant. It would have been a sweet, although dangerous gesture had the potential assailant not been the stray Saint Bernard from up the street breaking into Juliet's trash. Tucking their guns into their pockets, the pair chased the animal out of the yard, and across the street where he belonged.


	15. Chapter 15

Twenty minutes later they were back in the house, finishing up dinner and laughing about the fact that they had allowed themselves to get the wits scared out of them by literally, a friendly Saint Bernard. After dinner, and Juliet's choice of a movie, they both reluctantly went their separate ways to sleep, Shawn to the couch he had convinced Juliet to let him sleep on, and Juliet to her bed which had been forced to settle with.

Hours passed, marked by the ticking clock on the far end of the living room, and Shawn still did not sleep. He could not help himself. Every squeak, every rustle of the wind blowing through the trees outside, made him flinch. Although he would never admit it out loud, he was scared. Someone was out to get him, for whatever reason, and he had no choice but to wait for that ominous final confrontation, and he did not even want to think about how that might end.

It was around two o'clock in the morning when Shawn decided that enough was enough, and he should not let fear get in the way of what little sleep he could get. After all, it would do him no good to spend the entire night, waiting for some unknown assailant to show up, only to have him show up in the bleak hours of the morning when he will be two seconds away from passing out.

Morning finally came, and with it, Shawn's pineapple pancakes, which much like Juliet's Hawaiian pizza was surprisingly, not tantamount to poisoning . When they had finished, they started planning what they were going to do for the rest of the day. Since it was Juliet's day to go errand-running, Shawn reluctantly agreed to go with her to the mall downtown.

Shawn spent the first half of the trip being Juliet's bag handler, which within half an hour meant holding five bags in each hand. He was able to excuse himself, finally, when she walked into the Bed, Bath and Beyond. For a while, he did not do much of anything, only wandering into a random store or two, contemplating how one could spend more than half- an hour in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. After his third trip to the food court, Shawn was officially bored. He was about to go in to Sports Authority, when his cell phone rang.

"Yep," he answered shortly.

"Hello Mr. Spencer. How's life? Didn't take you for the sports type," said a completely unrecognizable voice which had obviously been altered by some sort of computer program.

"Who are you," Shawn answered, turning his head this way and that, looking for the source of the voice.

"I wouldn't waste your time with that Shawn. I'm not in the mall."

"What do you want," he said shortly, clearly not in the mood to banter back and forth with a criminal.

"I want you, Shawn. I would have thought you'd learned that after I'd nearly cost you your life."

"What is your deal with me anyway? Did I really do that much damage to you personally?"

"No, no to me, to my family."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Shawn. You hold so much knowledge, and yet you are completely ignorant to it all the same. You know, you are so blind, it's almost a shame that the only way this can end is with your death."

"What knowledge," Shawn asked, ignoring the criminal's obvious threat.

"Are you kidding me? Because of you four of us are dead, and six of us are on our way to jail. You would have had a list of our associates, had my partner not knocked you out at the last minute. Now, it's only a matter of time before that annoying photographic memory of yours kicks in and all of us are sent to prison, or worse depending on what form of torture my deranged father decides to impart on us for failing to kill you."

"So what do you want," he asked slowly, pronouncing each word as if it were its own sentence.

At that exact moment he saw something across from him that made his heart stop. Nestled inside the otherwise ordinary garbage can was a thing that looked like a very cleverly designed, homemade bomb. Without even thinking, he tore it out of the trash, and looked down at the time which told him that he had fifteen minutes to get the bomb out of that mall or else the whole thing was going to blow. Of course, Shawn knew better than to trust a timer that a criminal had set up, so he just started running.

Once he got outside, courtesy of the emergency exit door, he finally heard Juliet, who had seen the whole thing, running and yelling after him. He tried to tell her to stop following him, but an intermittent beep let him know that the bomb was about ready to explode. So, instead, he did the only thing that he felt like he could do and threw it as far as he could into the empty end of the parking lot.

There was a strange moment of silence, and then an ear-splitting explosion let off, throwing Shawn and Juliet completely off balance. They were saved from most of the fire of the explosion only because of their distance from the flames, but the blowback threw them at least twenty feet away, where they both landed in an unmoving heap. A few intense moments later, the shock finally died down, and the only evidence that the bomb had been there that remained was the crater in the middle of the parking lot and the singed landscape surrounding it.

Hoards of spectators were soon investigating the chaos and its only two victims. In the middle of it all, Shawn and Juliet both tried to stand to their feet and let everyone know that there was absolutely nothing to worry about and they were fine. They could not even get a word out to the worried bunch that had all flipped their cell phones out so fast it was as if the second-to-last American Idol had just ended.


	16. Chapter 16

It was not long before Lassiter himself was on the scene, along with Henry, who had stubbornly tagged along with the younger detective, despite his numerous attempts at trying to get him to stay back at the station. Once they reached the two of them, after breaking through the still frantic crowd, their previous fears were immediately stilled. They had expected to find the charred remains of their close friends and family, but instead they found the both of them doing pretty much the same thing that they had been trying to do: get through the crowd.

"O'Hara," Lassiter yelled through the noise of the crowd, his voice carrying an almost unheard of air of concern.

"We're okay," she said defiantly, finally getting out of the chaos herself. "A little scratched up, but we're okay."

"What happened," he barked.

"Actually, I'm not entirely sure. I just saw Shawn running so I followed him. What happened, Shawn?"

"I got a call from somebody. He never told me his name, but I bet Gus' entire Red Phantom collection that he was a Duffy. He told me that his family has something against me, that I know something no one else is supposed to know, so I have to die, and that's when I found the bomb."

"Well, it's lucky you found it when you did. Although it is a tad unsettling, it may mean that whatever they're doing, they're stepping it up a notch," Lassiter, noted matter-of-factly.

"Or getting desperate, I wish I could remember what it is exactly that I've got buried in this memory bank of mine."

"Alright, Henry, let's get these two back home," he said, motioning to the man's car.

"Carlton, I brought my own car here."

"I know, and you're not taking a scrap piece of metal back home."

"Oh," she uttered, only just then realizing that her car had been a part of the carnage.

Wordless as they went, the pair now followed the retired cop to his truck, taking no time to climb into the backseat. Not long after Henry had stepped on the gas pedal so hard that it nearly fell off, they were back at Juliet's house. With a quick goodbye to Henry, who reminded them to let the police know about anything suspicious, the pair nearly passed out on the couch, nodding off with the sudden rush of exhaustion overtaking them.

A few hours later, Shawn stirred awake, stretching the crick in his neck, before taking a quick look outside as he had grown accustomed to doing the minute the first psycho started going after him. Shifting his gaze from the outside, to the woman still asleep on the couch, Shawn hatched an idea. It had been a good, long while since he had done something truly, random and romantic for her. So, he grabbed the keys that he had at that moment noticed that he had left on the kitchen table to his right, and went out the door quietly.

When she woke up, Juliet awoke to an empty house. Once her senses were cleared of any semblance of exhaustion she felt her insides run cold. The space that Shawn had once been sleeping peacefully in was empty. Willing herself not to panic, she listened to the sounds around the house for a moment, hoping to hear the muted shuffling of his shoes. There was nothing. Pushing down the fear that threatened to cloud her common sense, she quickly dialed Gus's phone number. She would have called Lassiter, but she knew that was probably as air-headed a thing to do as walking up to an alligator while it was eating.

"Juliet," answered the man's concerned voice after the third ring.

"Hey Gus, how's everything?"

"Juliet what happened to Shawn this time," he asked in an I-am-not falling-for-anything tone of voice.

"He's gone," Juliet finally admitted. "After Henry dropped us off, we fell asleep, and when I woke up, he was gone!"

"Juliet calm down. Now, are you sure he's really gone? Maybe, he's outside or he took a stroll or something."

"No, he didn't Gus, if he did he would have told me, or at least left a note. He's got to know after what happened today not to do that to me."

"Are you sure? This is Shawn we're talking about. He probably would've forgotten to write a note."

"But Gus," Juliet was suddenly cut off.

"I'm coming over. Maybe if we both put our heads together we can figure this out before we lose them."

"Okay, see you in a bit," she told him after finally calming down.

As she waited, thoughts buzzed around her head aimlessly, and yet they all seemed centered around the same fact, Shawn had gone missing right under her nose. Who knows what their perp could be doing to him right now?

_How could he have just disappeared like that? Why didn't I noticing anything, _ she wondered.

She stayed on this same track of thought for at least another ten minutes, only to have all her thoughts come to a screeching halt when the door handle of her front door started turning seemingly out of its own accord. Cursing her luck yet again, Juliet grabbed her service weapon from where it lay in her purse and stood at the ready to face the intruder. It was the first time in seven years she found herself thanking God she did not have that same shaky trigger finger she had had as a rookie.


	17. Chapter 17

She was thankful, because at that moment it would have cost her boyfriend his life.

Shawn himself stood slightly traumatized by the sight of his girlfriend almost shooting him at point-blank range. Now, it was his hands that shook as they struggled to hold onto the lilies that he had gotten Juliet at the florist up the street. Biting his lip, he stepped cautiously toward her.

"What is this? 'Scare the beans out of your boyfriend day'," Shawn quipped, dispelling the tense atmosphere as Juliet replaced her service weapon in her purse.

"Shawn, you should know better than to sneak off on me like that!"

"I know, I should have told you where I was going," Shawn said, as he took in the worried look on her face. "I just thought you'd like some flowers, and once I got the idea in my head…" he trailed off as she smiled at him.

"Well, that was very sweet, but please tell me next time," she said, grabbing the lilies in his hand and setting them up in her purple glass vase in the dining room.

"Are you hungry," he asked, showing her the to-go bag in his other hand.

Inside the bag was two Combo Number Threes from one of the only Mexican cantinas in Santa Barbara, La Baja Mercado.

"Starving," she replied, retrieving the cups and forks from her kitchen cabinet.

They were half-way through their meal when a knock at the door interrupted it. Getting up from the table, Juliet answered the door. She was met with a very agitated, and yet nervous under the surface Gus.

"Juliet, what's going on? Have you heard anything? I tried to get here sooner, but the traffic was terrible. Wait, Shawn," he asked after he noticed his friend sitting at Juliet's table, burrito still caught inside his mouth.

"Hey buddy," he said nervously after swallowing and then turned to Juliet. "You called Gus?"

"I needed someone to help me find you," she said, her tone telling him that she was still more than peeved. Then she turned back to Gus. "Apparently, I jumped the gun."

"Shawn, how many times have I told you that you need to tell Juliet where you're going?"

"Including this time? Once."

"Well, you need to Shawn. This is a serious situation."

"I know, buddy," he said, obviously relenting

"Alright, do we have anything?"

"Other than heartburn from the incredible goodness that is these burritos? Nothing."

"Shawn, focus," Juliet chided

"Well the only connection we have so far is that they are a family of criminals, who are after me for canning one of their own. It looks like they're taking their time, sort of. They're taking turns with me. Like I'm their guinea pig or something."

"Great, you're a guinea pig. What does that tell us?"

"Nothing good. Just means that it only gets worse."

"What's worse than trying to blow you up?"

"Let's hope we don't have to find out."

"So it's a game," Gus chimed in finally pushing the couple to stay on track.

"Yeah, except it's in the sudden death round."

"What's our move then?"

"As much as I hate this, I think the only move we have is to wait."

"Well while we're waiting we should put a few precautionary measures in place," Juliet suggested.

"Like what?"

"We could tap your phone, just for the time being. It'll help us pick up on if he's already tapping you, and if he is we can trace the signal. It may lead us to him."

"Okay," Shawn answered reluctantly. "What else?"

"We put an officer on watch down the street, just in case his next game has us traveling."

"And what if he suspects something?"

"He won't. It's not like we're going to put a black and white down the street. We'll put someone undercover in one of the houses in the area. As far as he knows it's going to be like a new neighbor just moved in."

"And?"

"Neither of us leaves the house without a phone and a sidearm."

"Deal."

"So what do we know about the Duffys? Any idea on a location," Gus questioned Juliet.

"Not yet, but Carlton's working on it. Haven't made any headway though."

"Then why don't we start there?"

"I would say yes, but that doesn't seem like a very good use of resources with Lassiter working on it already."

"I've got an idea. What if, the next time he calls, I agree to a meeting?"

"You want to arrange a meeting with a guy who's trying to kill you? Shawn, I think you're missing the point."

"And what's that?"

"Uh, staying alive?"

"I don't see how that could happen if I still have a faceless opponent."

"In other words, you think the best solution is to put yourself into the line of fire?"

"It's not like I'm going to be alone. You could put a back-up team in place."

"Without being noticed? Seems just about impossible."

"But it can be done. It's been done before. All we have to do is make sure we set them outside the perimeter."

"So what happens when you get shot while the back-up is still fielding through the perimeter," Juliet questioned finally.

"I'm not going to get shot."

"Really," Juliet asked incredulously

"Jules, if this really is about proving their selves no one is just going to shoot me out in the open. I mean, come on. That's way too easy."

"And what about snipers?"

"If they had snipers, I would have been dead a long time ago. But if it makes you breathe a little easier, we can post our own snipers outside the perimeter."

"Shawn, I don't think this is a good idea. There's too much room to make a mistake. I think the best choice we have, until we can figure something else out is to lay low."

"Jules, I can't. I have to make some head-way otherwise all I'm doing is sitting around waiting for one of the Duffys to finally kill me."

"Well, you're going to have to Shawn. Out of the three of us, I am the only one with any actual authority when it comes to dealing with criminals. We'll figure something else out."


	18. Chapter 18

"Okay, you're right," he conceded finally, drawing out a long breath.

The rest of the day passed rather quickly, soon dissolving into night as the trio bounced ideas back and forth with each other, but none of them could come up with an agreement. So, rather than waste what little energy they had left, they decided that until they could get something figured out the extra protection detail was going to have to be enough. Shawn in particular, was the most satisfied with this plan, for one specific reason: it was the only one that was not going to put anyone he cared about in jeopardy.

The next morning, Shawn woke up in a good mood for the first time in a month. Serial killers out on the hunt, not withstanding today was destined to be a good day. He was sure of it, and the heavenly yet at the same time curious smell of Juliet's bacon and eggs wafting in from the kitchen was all the proof he needed. Still somewhat groggy from his fitful night's sleep he gravitated toward the kitchen where Juliet stood fussing over a bubbling skillet.

"G'morning," he muttered into her hair as he pulled her into a tight hug from behind, and kissed the top of her head.

"Morning," she answered once she had caught her breath.

"Never thought I'd live to see this."

"Well, if I'm going to marry a carnivore like you, I have to get used to it don't I?"

"Guess so," he said, flashing his signature smile in her direction. "Anything I can do?"

"You could get the plates and forks and put them on the table."

After a delightful breakfast and a call to the station to get the protection detail down the street the pair settled down, taking advantage of their time off by engaging in another movie marathon. They were in the middle of watching Matt Damon shoot his way through a bank when Juliet's work phone rang. Predictably, on the other line was an unusually nervous Carlton Lassiter.

"O'Hara, I just got a call from our man on point. He reported a suspicious car circling around your neighborhood. Nothing's been confirmed, but keep an eye out," he cautioned, before he disconnected the call.

"What was that about," Shawn asked, in a tone that told her he was obliviously curious.

"Carlton says there's a suspicious car driving around the neighborhood."

"Just driving around?"

"Just driving around."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it. Probably just some high school kid lost on his way home."

"Shawn," she started to lecture, but stopped when Shawn's cell phone started vibrating on the table in front of them.

Before he answered the call he looked at the caller ID, and was not surprised to find that the number had been blocked.

"What do you want?"

"Now, Shawn, don't you even wait to find out who you're speaking to before you start being rude to them?"

"May I ask who's speaking?"

"The name's Andrew. I believe you knew my brothers."

"Knew?"

"My father decided they didn't deserve to live after failing to kill you. Anyway, now it's my turn, and mark my words, I will not screw up."

"Doing a bang-up job of that so far."

"Do you make a habit of insulting people who are trying to kill you?"

"A pretty bad one, actually."

"I'll say."

"Okay, I'll ask again. What do you want?"

"There's an envelope in the mailbox. Open it and wait for instructions," he said, and then disconnected the line.

As soon as the long dial tone sounded Shawn was out the door, running toward the mailbox. Sure enough inside was a plain white envelope, with a note inside. Nervously, Shawn opened it and read:

_It's about time, we met in person don't you think? After all, if I were you I would want to see the face of the man who was trying to kill me before he succeeded. Do what the boy says and maybe I can make that happen._

_-Duffy._

Feeling like he was trudging through oatmeal, Shawn made his way back into the house.

True to form, he burst in the door as if nothing had happened.

"Well, I have good news," he told Juliet who was still sitting at the table.

"What's that?"

"He really doesn't want to kill me. Well, Andrew doesn't want to kill me. I still don't know what his purpose is though."

Like clockwork, his cell phone rang once again, broadcasting another blocked call.

"I assume you got my father's letter," came Andrew's voice from the other line.

"Yeah, so, what do you want?"

"I want you to meet me at Blue Fountain Park in fifteen minutes. No cops," he said harshly before the call was disconnected again.

"So, the kid really just wants to meet?"

"Apparently."

"I'm sorry, but that just screams trap. You don't have to do this," Juliet said.

"Yes, I do. It's the only way to make this end. They're pulling out all the stops, so this could be our last chance to catch them before something worse happens."

"Or, it could just be an opportunity to kill you outright."

"Jules, he's just a kid. All that bravado in his voice, it was forced. He's not going to kill me. He doesn't want to kill me anymore than I want to die. I think I may be able to talk some sense into him. Besides, if he kills me that would just ruin his father's game."

"I'm going with you just me, which is already going against every lesson I have ever learned at the Academy by not bringing the rest of the force in. And don't even think about arguing with me."

"Alright. I should get going. Kid or not, I don't think he's going to want to wait."

"Then let's go," she said, grabbing his keys from the key rack.


	19. Chapter 19

The whole ten minute trip was as tense as it was silent. Neither of them could think of anything to say that had not already been said, and they both knew it was not the time to argue. They also knew that this meeting was probably going to be the last. It was do or die, though they would not admit it. The only thing that seemed to break through the awkward silence was the whirring of Juliet's vibrating work phone, the phone she would not answer, which unbeknownst to Shawn only alerted her partner on the other line that something was not right.

Once they arrived at the park, one look confirmed why this was where Andrew chose to meet: the place was desolate. There was not soul in sight. Trying not to think about it too much, Shawn parked the car, and got out. Juliet made to do the same thing, but Shawn stopped her.

"Jules, stay here. He said no cops," he said, and started to leave, before he stopped again. "But if it really looks like it's going south, don't be shy."

Reluctantly, she did what he said, but only because she knew that back-up was on the way. So she watched him go with anxiety building relentlessly inside her, only taking her eyes off of him after he disappeared behind the hill. She managed to keep her restlessness in for a few short minutes, the drumming of her fingers against the gun in her hands the only outward sign it even existed. However, the tenseness of the situation in spite of years of experience was getting to her, and it was making her jumpy. Of course, she herself did not even know how jumpy she really was until Lassiter's royal blue Crown Vic pulled up next to her and she almost pulled out her gun. Thankfully, she stopped herself before she could and instead got out of the car.

"O'Hara! What's going on," her partner barked as soon as he had gotten out of his own car.

"Duffy's on his last resort. Shawn's meeting with his youngest son now."

"Where is he?"

"Over the hill, but we have to be careful. He said no cops."

"Alright, cover me. It looks like we may be able to stay hidden if we go behind those trees," he said, pointing to the foliage at their left. She did as she was told and pulled her weapon before going into the trees. From where they were hidden, they could hear Shawn yelling to their unseen enemy, which considering the circumstances was good news especially when taking into account the overdrive of anger and the absence of pain in his voice.

They were in the middle of planning their next move when the rustling of leaves behind them alerted to them that someone or by the sound of it more than one someone was following them. Guns drawn, they turned around only to be met with the worried filled gazes of Gus and Henry.

"What are you doing here," Juliet admonished in a harsh whisper.

"We heard what happened over Mr. Spencer's police scanner."

"Great. Well, stay close. If things take a wrong turn, we're not going to have time to worry about two unarmed civilians," Lassiter finished.

"Who said we were unarmed," Henry asked, opening his jacket to reveal his old service weapon while Gus showed him the knife that he had no doubt just grabbed from his kitchen counter.

"Alright, but don't do anything unless I tell you to."

Two seconds later the head detective realized that his words of warning had gone in one ear and out the other as both of them nearly rushed toward the clearing stopping just short of being in plain sight. What they found was exactly what they expected: Shawn reasoning with his potential killer who was currently holding a gun to his face. They were yelling at each other, but at first the pair could not hear what they were saying.

As they inched closer, however, their voices became clearer.

"I understand what you're doing Andrew. You don't have a choice, I mean how are you supposed to disregard an order from your father whom you know could kill you for disobeying?"

"He killed my brothers, why should I expect any different?"

"Dude, if there's anyone who understands what it's like to have a Dad who has standards you can't live up to it's me."

"Yeah? Does your Dad threaten to kill you when you don't meet them?"

"Eh," Shawn said jokingly, all the while knowing the full gravity of the situation. "Andrew, listen. I can get you out of here, safe. You haven't done anything yet that can't be forgotten. If you put that gun down, I can get you to the police and they _will_ protect you."

"There's not enough time. He'll find me first."

"Maybe, maybe not. The sooner you work with me, the sooner I can make sure that doesn't happen."

"It's already too late," he told him, his voice tinged with fear.

"What," Shawn started to ask, but stopped when he realized that the question had no purpose as the man who instigated the whole mess stepped out from where he must have been hiding the entire time.

"Hello Shawn. Good job Andrew," he said nodding to his son, who handed him the gun in his shaking hands. "I told you I wanted to meet you face to face. Glad you listened to that. But you didn't listen when I said 'no cops' did you?"

"What are talking about," Shawn said quickly.

"You can come out now, and drop your weapons," the villain called toward the trees where Gus and the group were hiding.

At first, no one made a move from behind the trees, and then, the group progressed slowly through the bushes headed by an ever confident Lassiter and Henry and followed by a more than nervous Gus and Juliet.

"James," Henry asked, once he got a good look at the perp.


	20. Chapter 20

"Wait a minute, you know this guy," Lassiter questioned, sounding innerved.

"Yeah, he was one of my first solo arrests. Predictably, none of the charges stuck though. Guess you really did belong in prison," he spat, looking in the perp's direction once again.

"Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. This is your son? Well, that just makes the pot all the sweeter doesn't it?"

"James, you don't want to—."

"Don't want to what? Kill the guy who sent my son to his death, the guy who incidentally happens to be the son of the man who ruined my life?"

"James, listen."

"No you listen! This _boy_ drove my son to an incurable depression, drove him to take his own life, and no amount of 'I'm sorry's is going to change that fact. You can't bring the dead back to life so you'll excuse me if all I want to do is send him back where he belongs."

"James, I know that it's hard, but do you really think you're honoring your son's memory by killing another human being?"

"Doesn't matter. It's justice," he said with a tone of finality, before cocking the gun in his hand. " But I'm not completely heartless, so I'll give you ten seconds to run."

"What," Shawn asked pointlessly.

"Ten, nine," the villain started counting, but Shawn was hidden behind the same foliage that had hidden his friends by the time he reached five.

Henry followed his son as he went, thanking God that his knees, which had been causing him constant agony over the past week, were not throbbing now. Even if they were he doubted he would have been able to focus on them while he tried to direct his son to his truck and the subsequent safety it provided. They both reached the car just as the perp began firing live shots. As it happened, Shawn was the one who landed behind the wheel and Henry begrudgingly sat in the passenger's seat.

"Shawn, do you even have the keys," Henry yelled as soon as he sat down, his voice somehow carrying through the hail of gunfire raining down on them.

Shawn did not answer verbally, but the revving of the engine was enough of an answer. Within minutes they had pulled out of the park and were surprised to find the bullets following them even as they went down the road at seventy miles an hour. The reason, however soon became clear as a grey car circa 1989 carrying Mr. Duffy with his gun still in his hand pulled around their left side. Using his quick thinking skills Shawn pushed the vehicle to its furthest limits and managed to put some ground between them Mr. Duffy. He also managed to make several motorists nearly irate as he weaved shakily in and out of traffic

Despite the situation he was amazingly still be able to concentrate a fair amount of his attention on the road in front of him. His natural talent for zoning out was serving him well, right up until a sharp jolt to the side of the truck knocked him forcibly into reality and nearly through the front windshield. Miraculously, he was able to save himself from taking the windshield taste test and swerved the truck safely out of the flow of traffic. Of course he had not been thinking at the time that a maneuver like that was probably going to do little but make him a more open target. His brain was still refusing to work properly when he put the truck in park, the gun that his Dad was somehow able to sneak him during the chaos tucked behind his back and out of sight, and went out to meet Mr. Duffy, who had also stopped the car he was in.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lassiter's Crown Vic plow into the perp's car effectively trapping him where he was. The same cold fear that he had been hampering all this time now plagued him as he stared in horror at the still car, not knowing how someone could have survived such a spectacular crash. Then, a low rumbling emitted from the car followed by the '_pop'_ of the driver's door being broken open by a bleeding Lassiter, Gus spilling out of his respective seat in the same way with his weapon drawn.

Still staring at his potential murderer, Shawn waited for a count for Juliet to emerge from the vehicle. When nothing happened Shawn threw away any thought for his own safety and ran straight for Lassiter's car. Even as he went his stride was nearly broken when the familiar fiery pain of a gunshot wound assaulted his left leg. After that chaos erupted around him, but he did not notice. The only thing that he could focus on was getting Juliet out of the car she had been trapped in thanks to the seatbelt that had pinned her in place.

Another gunshot sounded, its bullet hitting the car. Any other time, Shawn would have made a crack at Duffy's unexplainably horrible aim, but he found himself completely preoccupied with trying to get his fiancé out from the mangled mess that was Lassiter's car. After radioing for medical through the still crackling police radio on the dashboard using his rather convincing 'Lassie' routine, he took the knife that he had hidden in his breast pocket and cut Juliet's seatbelt before he carefully lifted her out of the car. His leg nearly fell out from under him when he put his full weight on it, causing him to lose his grip on Juliet, who would have gone tumbling to the ground had it not been for Lassiter catching her in his arms.

Seeing that she was safe for the time being, Shawn limped out from behind the car realizing that that was probably the worst possible move he could have made when he noticed Duffy's gun once again aimed squarely at his face. He did not have time to move, he could not think. In a beat, he was on the ground once again, listening to the glorious sound of a now conscious Juliet screaming his name. While he was trying to assess just how bad the damage to his body had been he heard the crunching sound of someone stepping toward him and looked up just in time to see Duffy heading right for him in an obvious attempt at finishing him off.


	21. Chapter 21

Not wanting to see the end as it was coming, Shawn closed his eyes only opening them at the sound of another gunshot and a body dropping with a _'thud'. _At that his head involuntarily jerked up, willing himself to see whether or not one of his friends had been a part of the carnage. He would have sighed in relief had the pain from the fresh gunshot wound in his side let him seeing the sight of his father standing over a now prone Duffy with a still smoking gun in his hands.

Instead he settled for grasping for the last embers of his almost faded consciousness. It was a task that was made significantly easier when he heard the gruff voice of Lassiter screaming Juliet's name. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father rush toward him, his gun discarded, but his attention was focused on where he now saw Lassiter kneeling next to a once again unconscious Juliet. Any other time he would have cursed Lassiter's stupidity for putting her in this position in the first place, although a small part of his brain would have to admit that it was really his fault, but his body was beginning to turn on him. If was not for the small hole in his now otherwise completely black field of vision that was still focusing on Juliet he would have just given in to the comforting, floating feeling in his mind and fallen into unconsciousness himself. His father, he noticed, had finally made it to his side and was apparently speaking to him, but he might as well have been speaking gibberish because Shawn was not listening.

As he watched the rare sight of Lassiter panicking over his partner, Shawn was fighting the urge not to panic himself as his vision suddenly blacked out. He did not fall into unconsciousness however, but found himself reduced to just listening to the sounds around him. His father was yelling at him, and he still could not understand what he was saying. He was shaking him, but he felt too weak to respond. After about five minutes he heard Lassiter yelling over to his father, a yell which was now accompanied by the all too familiar wail of an ambulance followed by the shrill sound of several squad cars.

Soon cold, unfamiliar hands were trailing all over his body. One found the gunshot wound at his side, and Shawn whimpered from the contact, but his eyes remained glued shut. Amidst the overwhelming pain in his side he felt the sharp sting of a needle in his right hand and the rush of air being forced into his lungs. The floating feeling that had been plaguing him since he fell returned with a vicious intensity, but it felt different this time. Finally being able to open his eyes just a crack, he realized that he was being lifted into a stretcher and pulled into the waiting ambulance. Being confident of two things, one: that he was in good hands and it was now safe to pass out, and two: that if he did not his dinner was bound to make reappearance he gave into that floating feeling.

When next he came around he noted that he must not have been out for that long based on the flurry of activity that still surrounded him coupled with the feeling of being hoisted on to a different bed. He wanted to open his eyes again, to yell at whoever was jostling him so harshly, but his eyes and mouth were not cooperating. His ears however, were now strangely, in perfect working order. The bed that he was in started moving. They, whoever 'they' were, were taking him into an OR.

Though his brain was working slower than normal courtesy of the cocktail of drugs in his system he understood enough to know that he going to have surgery. Not a minute later he heard the _'bang'_ of two double doors opening simultaneously. His bed stopped moving. He heard a strange ripping sound coming from his side, and the '_clink' _of metal against metal. Then he noticed a new mask being put on his face this one emitting a fouler smelling air. He noted that he could liken the smell to bubblegum gone into overdrive before he drifted into unconsciousness once again.

His surgery was not even halfway over when Juliet was relocated to a regular hospital room to recuperate after her own surgery to set her leg which had been broken in two places. Other than that, physically she was fine. Save for a few scratches, the most annoying of which being on her forehead, she looked nothing like she had just survived a head-on collision. The agonizing pain that she had experienced at the crash site was nothing but a memory that the morphine drip at her side was driving away with every second.

When she reached her room she was surprised to find Lassiter and Gus already there. For one terrifying moment she wondered if the worst had happened. Then Gus spoke up.

"We don't know yet," he said, answering what he knew was her unspoken question.

"So then, why are you here?"

"Well, I can't speak for Lassiter, but Shawn once told me that the only way he cannot be there for you is if he knows that I am, so I figure I am doing him a better service by sitting here with you than I would be sitting in a waiting room," Gus said. "Besides, they'll tell us something when they know something," he said with a little smile.

"And I'm here because you're my partner, besides, Spencer will be fine," Lassiter muttered, in an obviously difficult attempt at being supportive.

She tried to answer, but the early onset of what she judged to be post-anesthesia sickness was upon her, making it difficult to get a single sentence out between the heaving and embarrassment. As embarrassing as the situation was, it was also a learning experience for Juliet, who learned the true quality of the men who sat with her as they smiled and held her hair back while she heaved everything in her stomach into a small basin. During the three hours that it took for the nausea to finally subside, she almost forgot what was on the line at that moment, until Gus's cell phone rang. Juliet only had to hear the tone of his voice to know he was talking to Henry, who had been the only one to actually wait Shawn's surgery out in the waiting room.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N - Well, this is the last chapter, stay tuned though, because I have an epilogue coming! P.S- I'm very sorry about the long wait, circumstances out of my control caused me to stall.

"Shawn's out of surgery. Mr. Spencer says they're being cautiously optimistic to say so, but they think he's going to be okay," Gus said once he hung up his phone.

"That's great," she said, watching as Gus looked like he was ready to jump out of his chair at a second's notice. "I want to see him," she finished, turning toward Lassiter and looking at him with a hard stare that told him she was not going to take 'no' for an answer.

"I'll see if I can get a hold of a wheelchair," he said, leaving for the nurses' station.

About ten minutes later he returned with an orderly, who was pushing a standard wheelchair. Once they got in the door, Lassiter took the wheelchair from the orderly, pushing it toward the bed. Nodding toward Gus who now stood on the other side of the wheelchair, he gently grabbed Juliet's arm while Gus took her other arm and eased her into it. Almost as soon as she got settled into the chair she took off, but then she realized that she did not know where she was going so she begrudgingly waited for Lassiter and Gus to catch up with her which they did three minutes later.

Lassiter did not waste anymore time, and grabbed the handlebars of the chair, pushing Juliet toward the elevator.

"We're going to the third floor," Gus said once the doors were shut, and waited for Lassiter to push the button before he continued. "Shawn's in the Critical Care Unit, just so they can keep an eye on him in case anything happens."

The elevator door opened a minute later, letting them off on the third floor. Once they reached the unit the head nurse attempted to keep all three of them back, but Lassiter simply pushed Juliet's wheelchair past her after flashing his badge in her face. They found Shawn's cubicle a minute later, guided by the sound of an irate Henry lecturing his son. Taking that as a good sign, Gus opened the curtain while Lassiter pushed Juliet inside.

When they arrived they witnessed the unexpected sight of Henry yelling at a still unconscious Shawn.

"Henry, what are you doing? You do realize he's unconscious right?"

"Oh, yeah that's what he wants you to think."

Gus moved forward after he heard that, moving so that he was now standing to the left of his best friend's bedside.

"Shawn," he asked timidly, pinching the hand without the IV when he did not answer.

Shawn did not even flinch.

"Mr. Spencer, he's totally out. Shawn's a good faker, but even he can't pretend to be unconscious after that. His hand's red."

"So what are we looking at exactly," Juliet asked, ignoring the nagging feeling inside her that was not dealing well with the situation.

"Well, they were able to get the bullets out which did not do too much damage to his muscles and bones, but they said he bled an awful lot, which is why they've got him on donor blood right now. He's supposed to be waking up from the surgery any minute, but they said that it's better if he's out longer because he's going to be in a lot of pain when he wakes up."

Almost as if on cue, a low moan echoed from the bed.

"Lassiter, push the red button," Henry ordered.

Lassiter complied and within minutes a young redheaded nurse who looked young enough to be fresh out of nursing school rushed into the cubicle.

"What seems to be the problem," she asked kindly, and then she saw Shawn stir and left the cubicle quickly, returning a minute later with a syringe. "This should help," she said, noting the frightened look on Gus's face before she emptied the syringe into Shawn's IV.

Just like that she was gone, and the group was left to wait. Shawn moved a few more times until his eyes finally opened.

"Ugh, can someone please quit banging those drums," he said dazedly, and then his eyes refocused. "Um, Gus, personal space," he asked, and Gus moved from where he was still leaning over him.

"Shawn," Juliet said leaning forward herself, using the bedrails to stabilize herself as she hugged him lightly.

"Uh, Jules, it's not that I'm not enjoying this very public display of affection, but I'm feeling pretty nauseous right now, and I wouldn't want to hurl on you," he gasped, and then an unidentifiable expression flashed across his face, before he pulled her back. "The accident, you were in the car. I got you out, but then you passed out, and I don't remember what happened after that. Are you okay," he asked, truly concerned.

"I'm fine Shawn. It's just a broken leg, nothing I can't handle.

"Oh, Jules I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault."

"You're right it wasn't. It was Lassie's fault," he said finally, staring at the man with a look that was an odd mixture of mirth and faux anger. "Mr. Head Detective is a given a chance to handle a situation his way, and his best solution is to plow his car into the perp's."

"Hey, it's not like I had a lot of options," the detective shot back playfully.

"Alright, boys, stop fighting. Shawn needs to get some rest, and so do you Juliet," Henry said, attempting to shoo her out.

"I'm not going anywhere," Juliet said firmly, leaving no room for an argument.

"Well, for the record, I'm glad you are both doing well, but I've got to get back to the station, got a lot of paperwork to catch up on, and I think that it will finally be quiet enough for me to be able to finish it," Lassiter said, before getting up and leaving.

"So, is it over? Is it really over?"

"Yeah it's over kid, Duffy's dead."

"And what about all the other Duffys?"

"They were all under Duffy's control. He was the one giving orders. With him out of the picture, they're not going to waste their time pursuing you. In fact, from what I hear, Mrs. Duffy tried to send you a thank you card. Apparently his paternal family was not the only ones he was controlling. The cops raided his house and found evidence of physical abuse."

"So what happened to Andrew?"

"Andrew is moving to the East Coast with his mother to live near his grandmother."

"That's good, I guess. Could be like a fresh start for them."

"Let's hope," Henry said, just as his cell phone started to vibrate. He did not answer it, but looked at the caller ID, before looking back at Shawn. "I've got to go Shawn, duty calls," he said, before quietly leaving the cubicle.

"So here we are, alone in a hospital cubicle again."

"Yes, I think you've made it too much of a habit lately."

"Now that it's over, I mean pending any more emergencies, how about we talk about more pressing matters, like where to hold what is going to be a wedding for the record books."

"Well, I think the beaches of Antigua are booked, but I have had my eye on the Hanging Gardens downtown."

"I like the sound of that, but will they be able to accommodate an elephant?"

"I don't think so Shawn," she said, her tone of voice telling him that even if they could she was not too keen on the idea.

"Aw, there goes my dream wedding," he answered jokingly.

"I don't know, I think we can still work with a pachyderm-less wedding."

They went on for the rest of the afternoon and on into the night, when they were sadly parted by the same head nurse who had let her in earlier.


	23. Epilogue

A/N- Sorry again for the long wait. I was a little more picky about this chapter, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with the results. So let me know what you think.

Four Months Later

Their stays at the hospital were short with Juliet leaving after only five days and Shawn following her a mere week after that. Both of them surprised everyone with their miraculous recoveries from their encounter with Duffy. In fact save for a lone arm crutch under both of their right arms, aiding them as they walked on tortured limbs there was not a hint of that encounter left.

Less than a week after the whole ordeal the Chief called Juliet into her office. Juliet was shocked into silence when the Chief told her that she knew she and Shawn were in a relationship, at which point Juliet braced herself for the termination notice. It never came. Instead the Chief told her that while she still did not entirely condone her relationship with a private consultant, technically private consultants were exempt from the rules against inter-office romance. Eyeing the ring around her neck, the Chief then congratulated her before roughly kicking her out of her office.

She was on the phone with her mother that afternoon, her mother who did not even know Juliet was engaged yet because of their need for secrecy. Needless to say, she was thrilled that her only daughter was finally getting married, but still somewhat hurt that she had kept her engagement from her. After a long-winded explanation about the necessity of their secrecy, her mother let go, and progress toward the wedding moved at full speed.

Barely a month had passed before the guest list had been compiled, invitations sent out and the venue had been planned, and paid for. Her parents had even sprung for a wedding planner who spent three straight months sitting down with the couple, ensuring that their wedding was the practically impossible fusion of both their interests. Everything moved so smoothly that there were times that they were simply waiting for something to go wrong. With the exception of the near disaster that was the planning for the bridesmaids' dresses nothing ever did.

The morning of the wedding, the weather was overcast, which although it was bad news for their photographer, was good news for the wedding party that was swaddled in elaborate dark violet gowns and heat attracting black tuxedos. Nonetheless Juliet was still sweating when her father knocked on the door to her dressing room and told her it was time to get ready walk the aisle.

She walked slowly, just like she had rehearsed, though she wanted to run. Of course, her still sensitive leg probably would not have let her. As she walked into the wedding pavilion, Juliet had to contain her gasp of wonder. It was everything she could have ever wanted, and the collage of family and friends around her only cemented that fact. However after that brief minute, she barely even looked at them. Instead she chose to focus on her soon-to-be husband.

Even now she could tell from the look in his eyes that he was still hurting every bit as much as she was. Still he stared at her, his face glowing with his signature smile. She reached the altar a minute later, giving her father a parting peck on the cheek after he lifted her veil, before turning to face Shawn. They both mouthed a quick 'I love you' to each other, and the ceremony began.

Two hours later the new Mr. and Mrs. Juliet Spencer were in Shawn's car on their way to the airport where they would take the 4:15 to Vancouver, the place they had chosen for their honeymoon after Juliet explained its sentiment to a not-willing-to-argue Shawn. The first half of the ride to the airport was filled with a very uncomfortable silence, one that Shawn broke only when he could not take the quiet coming from his new bride any longer.

"What's on your mind?"

Juliet's head perked up from where it had been slouched on the far left of the passenger's seat at his question.

"Mhmm, what?"

"Come on, Jules. I may not be psychic, but I can still tell when something is bothering you."

Knowing she was caught, Juliet caved.

"Promise me, Shawn, that you will stop being so reckless."

"Where's this coming from?"

"I don't know, I was just thinking about what it's going to be like to be married to you, have kids with you, and with the way things have been going lately if you're lucky enough to survive into all their graduations, we may not be lucky enough to have none of your reckless behavior rub off on them."

"But you have to admit, it keeps life interesting."

"Yeah well, I don't know about you, but after what just happened, I'm ready to retire interesting for a while."

"But it's only thirty years old, if you retire it now, then it won't get Medicare."

Juliet laughed wholeheartedly in spite of the bad joke, then her face turned serious again.

"Shawn promise me."

"I promise."


End file.
